Q. In the process of transforming older texts into contemporary situations, composers are more concerned with entertaining the masses than making a serious comment on society.
Discuss
Throughout the ages, society has transposed its more primordial texts into contemporary forms and situations. The majority of these texts have both entertained the masses and made serious social commentary. These transpositions and alterations of text occur in many forms which often are influenced by the context of their social and cultural values. Texts representing this idea are “The Pardoner's Tale ", which is an allegorical poem from the fourteenth century in a theological society, and “A Simple Plan", a film in the twentieth century arising from a secular, humanistic society. Both texts however use the same core theme to instruct and entertain their audiences - “Radix malorum est cupidas ".
While the film “A Simple Plan” may at first glance show little resemblance to “The Pardoner’s Tale” it has retained through the ages the integral components required to teach and titillate the masses. “The Pardoner's Tale " is a moralizing poem created in the fourteenth century and as such is a reflection of the period which is why this text is preoccupied with the issues of ‘glotonye’, greed and betrayal. It is told by an avaricious and hypocritical pardoner who preaches through the use of allegory about the pitfalls of sin while confessing to his own faults such as deceit and ‘ypocrise’. As it is an allegorical construct it perforce relies on simplicity and assumption to convey its themes. An example being the lack of development of the "riotoures" as characters, their fate after death is irrelevant as their life was important only as a symbol to instruct the audience. Similarly the setting is given little detail and only a loose association with the name "Flaundres", as "Flaundres" at that time was mainly known as a place of ill repute it gives the tale a moral rather than physical location. Associating the tale with a place of such debauchery also attracts the audience’s attention. This is similar to “A Simple Plan” where the town is given no name; allowing it to be any small rural town giving it a greater sense of reality. Unlike “The Pardoner’s Tale” Raimi’s film develops the central characters in order to engage the audiences empathy, revealing as the movie goes on the personal repercussions their moral compromises have.
The previously mentioned texts also serve to instruct the audience on human nature. With the revelation of the pardoner’s sins it is made apparent the gap that lay between the reality of his personality and the preconception most had of it “Thus spitte I out my venym under hewe
Of hoolynese, to semen hooly trewe”. We are also shown this truth of society in “A Simple Plan”, where we are told by Sarah that people are often not what they seem “nobody would ever believe you’d be capable of doing what you’ve done”. This is later reinforced in the scene where Sarah initially refuses the money “It doesn’t matter whether it hurts anybody or not it’s against the law”, however her perspective changes when the mass of wealth is revealed to her as shown in the extreme close-up of her face laughing. Another truth that we are shown is the extreme greed inherent in everyday people when Hank commits fratricide-one of the most terrible crimes a human being can commit, to protect his ill-gotten wealth. The pardoner too admits to this failing “I preche nothing but for coveitise”
Though both texts are similar there are differences enforced by the times, contexts and medium. The prototypical text- “The Pardoner’s Tale” had to be purveyed in a far more different form and this form is poetry. Poetry was far more appropriate to entertain and instruct the masses of the fourteenth century who were largely uneducated and the rhyme “oother” “broother”, rhythm and repetition “O glotonye” “O greed” aided in engaging their attention. This medium also requires Chaucer, the composer to utilize literary techniques far more frequently to permit his audience to visualize the situation. An example would be the pardoner’s use of apostrophe and onomatopoeia “Samsoun, Samsoun”. In contrast “A Simple Plan” is presented in a visual medium allowing its composer to employ colour contrasts such as that of the endless snow which represents moral superiority and the ravens which symbolises the more parasitic and morbid aspects of fate. Further techniques employed were the voice over “I was happy once” and the overshot at the beginning of the movie which implies that he is not who he once was.
Even though the original text has been transformed radically it has still retained its ability to entertain and inform through its themes. One can see that regardless of their time and context of their origin, it can be seen that composers have made an effort to use their texts to instruct and entertain. Indeed the very reason we are entertained is a direct result of the social commentary within these texts, for they stimulate our intellect.
